Varāha Avatāra

Varāha (the boar) is an avatāra of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He comes when the earth is in danger from adharma (the opposite of dharma, right living). In each kalpa (a cosmic age), the earth, Bhūdevī (the devī of the earth), sinks into the first ocean. Bhagavān Viṣṇu then takes the form of a boar and lifts her on his single tusk (kora).

This avatāra is the frame of the whole Varāha Mahā Purāṇa. Bhagavān Viṣṇu appears as the boar, lifts Bhūdevī from the depths of the ocean and answers her deep questions. His answers make up the Purāṇa.

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells how Varāha came out of the nostril of Brahmā, was praised by the great ṛṣis, lifted the earth and then fought and killed Hiraṇyākṣa. Hiraṇyākṣa was one of the two fallen gatekeepers of Vaikuṇṭha, Jaya and Vijaya.

Lifting Bhūdevī

In each kalpa, Bhūdevī sinks into the first ocean, or into Rasātala. Bhagavān Viṣṇu takes the Varāha form and lifts her on his single tusk.

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa opens with these verses of invocation.

“The Varāha Deva who playfully lifts the earth — between whose trotters the Meru mountain rattles — to that Śrī Varāha Deva, namaskāra.”

“In former times, the Varāha Deva, with his vast, limitless great body, lifted the entire earth — mountains, rivers, and oceans — like a clod of dirt on his tusk’s edge. May that Śrī Varāha Deva rout my enemies!”

Bhūdevī’s questions

After she is lifted, Bhūdevī asks Bhagavān Varāha these questions in Chapter 1.

• “Every kalpa you lift me, yet I don’t know your true nature or your primordial creation.”
• “After lifting me, how do you create this universe? Why? How do you maintain it?”
• “What is the easy way to attain you? What is this creation’s beginning? How does it end?”
• “What are the yugas and their sequence? Who are the kings who performed yajñas? Who attained the highest siddhi?”

The answers of Bhagavān Varāha to these questions make up the whole Purāṇa.

Varāha’s vision of the cosmos

Varāha laughed when Bhūdevī praised him. Then she saw inside his belly:

• the Rudras, the devas, the Vasus, the Siddhas and the Mahārṣis
• the seven lokas, with their suns, moons and planets
• all beings doing their dharma

When Varāha opened his mouth, Bhūdevī saw inside him the four-armed Bhagavān Viṣṇu lying on the ocean. On the lotus that grew from his navel sat the four-faced Brahmā. She was overcome and trembled.

The cosmic boar in battle

Several chapters of the Varāha Mahā Purāṇa recall the might of Varāha in war.

• In the account of the battle with Andhaka (Chapter 15), he pierced from the earth down to the lowest Pātāla (talātala).
• His war-cry made the three worlds shake.
• One tusk was enough to lift the whole earth with its mountains.

The verse on creation (Chapter 9)

In the Sanskrit verse section of Chapter 9, the Purāṇa says:

“The ancient Puruṣa Nārāyaṇa settled in a lotus-bud in the middle region (the stellar realm). He emitted from his navel the syllables (svara and haL) — the letters of creation.”

Varāha Dvādaśī in the month of Māgha

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 41) teaches a monthly vrata (vow) for Varāha. It is kept in the month of Māgha, in the śukla pakṣa (bright half), on dvādaśī (the twelfth day).

How it is done

• Follow the general rule of the Dharaṇī Vrata: fast on Ekādaśī, then do the pūjā on Dvādaśī.
• Place a kumbha (pot) filled with seeds in front of the mūrti.
• Prepare a golden Varāha mūrti, or a wooden one if there is no gold. Place it in a copper vessel filled with seeds.
• Wrap it in white cloth and worship it with flowers, gandha (scented paste) and naivedya (food offering).
• Keep a night vigil (jāgara). At dawn, give gifts to a worthy brāhmaṇa.

The archanā mantras for Varāha are as follows.

Fruits of the vrata

• In this life: saubhāgya (good fortune), wealth, radiance and contentment.
• Poverty is destroyed, and Lakṣmī comes at once.
• A man with no children receives a son.
• In the next life: a home in Viṣṇuloka.

Example: King Vīradhanu

King Vīradhanu was hunting. Without knowing it, he killed brāhmaṇas who were wearing deer skins as a tapas (penance). He was seized by brahmahatyā, the pāpa (sin) of killing a brāhmaṇa. The ṛṣi Devarāta taught him the Varāha Dvādaśī vrata and said:

“Just as Varāha lifted Bhūdevī from Pātāla, so too will Janārdana lift you.”

Vīradhanu kept the vrata and reached Indraloka. Even Indra came forward to receive him. The servants of Bhagavān Viṣṇu (kiṃkaras) said that in puṇya (merit) Vīradhanu was greater than Indra.

The Bhāgavata account (3rd Skanda)

The 3rd Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells the Varāha episode as part of its great account of creation, which follows the teaching passed on through Brahmā, Sarasvatī and Maitreya. It has two parts.

Varāha comes from the nostril of Brahmā (Chapter 13)

Brahmā had received his instructions from Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He was thinking how to bring back the earth that had sunk into the garbhodaka, the cosmic ocean at the base of the universe. A tiny boar, no bigger than the tip of a thumb, came out of his nostril. In a few moments the tiny form grew until its huge divine body filled the sky.

The great ṛṣis who were there, Marīci and others, were amazed. They sang the stotra (hymn of praise) known as the Dhātrī-stuti to this sudden and overwhelming form of Bhagavān Viṣṇu as the boar.

Varāha plunged into the garbhodaka and went down through the cosmic waters to where the earth lay under the water. With his tusks he raised the earth, the whole Bhū-maṇḍala with its mountains and oceans, as easily as an elephant lifts a lotus from a lake.

The battle with Hiraṇyākṣa (Chapters 17–19)

As Varāha rose from the cosmic waters with the earth on his tusk, Hiraṇyākṣa stood in his way. Hiraṇyākṣa was the daitya who had conquered Svargaloka, and Varuṇa had told him to seek out Varāha. He challenged Varāha with sharp words, called him a beast of the forest and taunted him to fight.

They fought in the cosmic ocean with maces and great strength. The fight went on so long and was so fierce that Brahmā himself came and spoke to Varāha: “O Bhagavān Varāha, do not delay. The evening sandhyā is near, and in the sandhyā hour the forces of adharma grow stronger. Finish this quickly.”

Hiraṇyākṣa threw his śūla (trident) at Varāha. The blazing Sudarśana Cakra, spinning, met it in the air and destroyed it. At last Varāha struck Hiraṇyākṣa on the cheek with a strong backhand blow. Hiraṇyākṣa spun round, his eyes rolled back, his mace fell from his hand and he fell, his life gone.

Brahmā spoke to the victorious Varāha: “This was no ordinary asura. He was Jaya, your own dear gatekeeper of Vaikuṇṭha, who fell by the curse of the Sanatkumāras. He died with his mind fixed on your form, even though in enmity, and so he is purified. His liberation is sure.”

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa account

Chapter 4 of the Agni Mahā Purāṇa gives a short account of Varāha in its survey of the ten avatāras (Daśāvatāra). Hiraṇyākṣa, a king of the asuras, had conquered the devas and made himself ruler of Svarga. The devas came to Bhagavān Viṣṇu, who is the embodiment of yajña (fire ritual), and asked for his help.

Hari then took the Varāha form. In a way wonderful to see, he killed that asura who troubled the world, together with his army of daityas. He restored dharma, protected the devas and all beings, and then vanished.

Hiraṇyākṣa was the brother of Hiraṇyakaśipu. His defeat opened the way for the next avatāra of Bhagavān Viṣṇu, Narasiṃha, against that brother.

Varāha at Badarīkāśrama: the Vārāhī Śilā

The Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Badarī Kṣetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4) tells that Bhagavān Varāha lifted the earth from Rasātala and killed Hiraṇyākṣa. Then he came to Badarīkāśrama and stayed there in yoga until kalpānta, the end of the cosmic age. His form as a stone (śilā) is always present at Badarī as the Vārāhī Śilā. It is the fourth of the five great Pañca Śilās.

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa (Uttarārdha, Chapter 67) says that those who bathe in the water of the Gaṅgā flowing over the Vārāhī Śilā and worship it with bhakti (devotion) never reach a bad gati (state after death).

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa account (Chapters 246–247)

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells of Varāha in the setting of the pralaya (dissolution) at the end of a kalpa. It opens with a vivid picture of that end. Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself, as the three-flamed Agni, burns up all creation: the Veda, the Purāṇa, all dharma and all beings, Brahmā too. All creation melts into the unchanging Nārāyaṇa.

When the time comes for creation to rise again, Bhagavān Viṣṇu stirs in the waters. He wears a yellow garment (pītāmbara) and has red eyes (raktanetra). He is dark as a rain cloud. He has masses of blazing matted locks, a single divine tusk (ekadaṃṣṭra) shining like the moon and a great shining ear ornament. At that moment Bhūdevī has been carried by the first waters down into Rasātala, the lowest underworld.

Bhagavān Viṣṇu takes the great Varāha form. It is as huge as a cosmic mountain, and his feet stand at the base of the universe. He goes down into the first waters, finds Bhūdevī and lifts her on his great tusk. Bhūdevī, full of devotion, offers a deep stotra to the Varāha form.

This Bhūdevī stotra is one of the most important hymns of the Matsya Purāṇa. It praises Bhagavān Viṣṇu as the cause and keeper of the universe, as present in all the ṛtas (cosmic laws), and as the one who sets the earth in place again at the start of each new kalpa. The Matsya Purāṇa stresses that the Varāha avatāra happens at the start of every kalpa and not only once.

The Narasiṃha Purāṇa account (Chapters 39 and 65)

Chapter 39 of the Narasiṃha Purāṇa tells of Varāha as part of the Daśāvatāra. It gives the richest picture of the cosmic Varāha form, made of the Veda (Veda-maya):

• The four Vedas are his four feet.
• The sacrificial post (yūpa-stambha) is his tusk.
• The sacrificial fire (citi) is his face.
• The sun and moon are his eyes.
• The Vedic dharmas are his ears.
• The sound of the Sāmaveda is his voice.
• The stars are his matted locks.
• The water of tarpaṇa (offering of water) is his nose.

In this description Varāha is not an animal form but the whole of the Vedic yajña in a body.

The Kokāmukha Kṣetra

The Narasiṃha Purāṇa adds one place that the other accounts do not mention. Bhagavān Viṣṇu finished his task, which was to set the earth in place and kill Hiraṇyākṣa. The place where he then gave up the Varāha form is the Kokāmukha Kṣetra. The text calls it a “secret and supremely excellent kṣetra (rahasyam uttama kṣetram) for the welfare of Vaiṣṇavas.”

In the Viṣṇu-Vallabha Stotra (Chapter 65), Kokāmukha is the first of the sixty-eight tīrthas (pilgrimage places) where the presence of Bhagavān Viṣṇu is specially easy to reach. It is paired with the name Vārāha.

Sources

• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Book 1 (Chapters 1–50), with Chapters 1, 9, 15 and 41 cited above
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 4
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapters 13 and 17–19
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kṣetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4
• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 67
• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 246–247
• Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapters 39 and 65